So What Is Going on in China?

New Lockdown Restrictions Have Led to Protests. Are the Chinese Finally Hitting Their Breaking Point With Zero Covid?

A fire that killed at least 10 people has led to mass protests against China’s brutal Zero Covid policies. On paper nothing about them makes sense anymore. They have officially so far had three Covid deaths in Beijing, a city of 22 million people, during the latest outbreak. So they weld everyone into their apartment buildings where they could starve to death or burn in a fire.

HELL ON EARTH: Zero Covid In China, People Being Dragged Screaming, Clubbed--Protests Breaking Out On A Massive Scale, Nothing Left To Lose

I have been pondering why Chinese authorities are really doing this. Is there an imminent financial collapse so they need draconian measures in place for when the money runs dry? Is there an incoming apocalyptic shortage of food or other resources so they want people locked in their homes? Are all the internment camps/prison rooms being built to haul away dissidents before they can get out of hand with things? Or are the Chinese people really that batshit crazy scared of a virus that poses virtually zero threat to them? Even if an apocalyptic zombie virus plague was released with a 100% fatality rate, I’d still want to take my chances outdoors and not in my little jail cell. If I had some biohazard suit storm troopers trying to weld my apartment exit shut or trying to haul me and my family off to quarantine camp, I would fight for my life too. I don’t want to starve to death in a cage.

There’s a financial aspect to it too though:

Songpinganq @songpinganq

While world focus on Ukraine,Chinese government is sending millions of people off to thousands of Covid quarantine camps. In China you need to pay about 1000 dollars for your 21 days quarantine fee include accommodation,food,Covid tests. Chinese people make 450 dollars a month

Now China also has a long history of genocide. And of brutal tyrants being brutal tyrants. Did the shapeshifting lizard people who rule us all, or the Satanic globopedohomo or whatever you want to define them as, look at a map of the world one day centuries ago and say, “yep, this place looks like the best ground for the mass cullings we need to keep on Moloch’s good side.”

For example part of what led to the Great Chinese Famine was the so Called “Smash Sparrows” Campaign implemented by Mao Zedong. For whatever stupid reason he wanted to go Zero Sparrows. The results were pretty bad:

“One of the most extreme measures was an effort to stop birds eating grain. As part of the Four Pests campaign – a hygiene campaign against flies, mosquitoes, rats and sparrows – people were called upon to shoot sparrows, destroy their nests and bang pots and pans until the birds died of exhaustion. Millions of sparrows, perhaps even hundreds of millions, were killed. The measure though left crops vulnerable. Pests such as locusts became the real winners, as they had lost a major predator.

Mao called off the sparrow campaign, but it was too late. A perfect storm had gathered. A toxic combination of widespread deforestation, misuse of poisons and pesticides and misinformed agricultural policy combined with poor weather to create a devastating famine. Up to 45 million people died. By the early 1960s, the Great Leap Forward was repealed. And yet, even after millions had perished, the disregard for basic scientific principles continued.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), mass campaigns led to a uniform agricultural model. The slogan “Take Grain as the Key Link” became gospel, forcing farmers to disregard growing local, appropriate crops in favour of grain. In some areas grain simply would not grow. “Such formalism supplanted local practices and wisdom, damaged the natural world, and inflicted enormous hardship on the Chinese people,” wrote Shapiro. China suffers from many ecological problems today. Not all are down to Mao. Bad practice has happened under past regimes and since. But Mao’s role is irrefutable. The message is clear: ignore science at your peril.”

As I’ve noted before, my paternal grandmother was a botanist and a conservationist. Perhaps because of this I find this whole campaign utterly stupid, with both the blatant disregard for complex systems and the fitting a square peg in a round hole thinking of planting only grains. Would I try to grow coconuts in Colorado? Even if the temperature is favorable there are other conditions to consider.

In Las Vegas my first husband had a dream of turning the barren desert land into a veritable fruit tree forest. Some things died right away, some struggled and some flourished. The persimmon, Asian pear and apple tree died quickly, and even the supposedly cold tolerant banana and pineapples could never survive the winter months. Cactus was surprisingly hard to grow, but blue agave thrived out front. Pill bugs ate strawberries, carrots, radishes and onions, but left Swiss chard, mint and rosemary untouched.

We tried our best

Pomegranates thrive there, even though I’ve read that they struggle in wetter climates due to a type of root fungus they are susceptible to. There are more plums and peaches in the right season than anyone can use. And there are maybe 500 aloe plants, even though they struggle in Thailand. I tend to let nature help me along to find the right balance. The plants in Las Vegas do get watered, though.

I think zero anything policies are a disaster. Change my mind.

My prayers are with the Chinese people during this momentous time. Here is hoping that this brutal senseless policy can be brutally extinguished. Call it Zero Zero Covid.

What do you think is the real reason for China’s Covid Zero?

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